Marketing when you’re more than a freelancer but not quite a firm

What if you're a one or two person company, but not really a big, big business? How do you present yourself correctly – not too big, and not too small – in your marketing materials, so that when your clients call you, your business set-up meets their expectations?

Look the right size:

1. Be honest on your "About Us" pages and biographical information in your printed materials. Make your business out to be exactly as big as you are. The exception to this is if you're sure you're going to hire help soon – and you don't want to have to revise your work then. List your employees – even if there's just a couple of you.

2. "I" vs. "we". There's nothing wrong about being an "I" on your site and materials – it certainly looks less ridiculous in the long run than being a "royal we" (a singular person who describes themselves as "we). Again, it's easier and less confusing for your clients to be honest.

3. Be honest about subcontractors. If you're a consultant and you bring on subcontractors to do part of your work, or if you hire other businesses to deliver part of your package, tell your clients about this. It helps to avoid bigger problems in the long run and potential trust issues when these facts do come out.

In the next post, I'll talk about how you can get big-business respect while still looking the size that you are.